Summary: - before grattitude can flow, ungrattitude must go - Rom. 1:18-32 - Paul's argument: 1. God's wrath is revealed against the whole human race because we are all born with an innate knowledge of God which we willfully suppress (v.18) 2. God has made himself plain to all men so that they are without excuse (v. 19:20) 3. by turning away from God, we turned to idolatry (v. 21-23) - Results: 1. moral impurity (v. 24-25) 2. dishonorable passions (v. 26-27) 3. total social breakdown (v. 28:32) - "God gave them up" which speaks of a judicial act of God whereby he hands man over to the natural conseque3nces of his own disobedience - the problem with the human race is not a lack of knowledge; the deeper problem is ignoring the knowledge we already have - first we receive from God's hand daily blessings without ever giving thought as to where they come from - second, we grumble about what we don't have - Ps. 100, 69:30-32 - magnify: it can mean to make something appear greater than it is, as with a microscope or a magnifying glass, or it can mean to make something that may seem small or insignificant appear to be as great as it really is - we are not called to be microscopes, but telescopes (Rom. 1:20-21, Eph. 1:18-19, Ps. 103:1-2)
